Moving to save children's lives on the road

A study of road accidents involving children and of child restraint systems (CRSs) in road vehicles has helped produce better tools and test dummies to improve safety technology. This is expected to save many young lives and decrease injuries.

Hundreds of children die and thousands are severely injured every year in car accidents across the EU. Despite improvements over the years in vehicle safety, policymakers are constantly seeking to reduce fatalities and injuries through a number of measures, such as improved prevention, education, infrastructure and safety devices. The EU-funded project 'Child advanced safety project for European roads' (CASPER) sought to upgrade the safety level of children in cars by facilitating research to advance technologies and systems that protect these young passengers.

To achieve its aims, CASPER brought together car manufacturers, industry representatives, universities, experts, and research institutes in the fields of crash testing and biomechanics. It conducted workshops and participated in conferences to involve other stakeholders such as manufacturers, consumer organisations and national road safety organisations.

Specifically, the project worked on developing better sensors and dummy models that simulate impacts more effectively, enabling CRS manufacturers to produce and test products at a lower cost. Its main challenge revolved around defining and developing relevant human body dummy segments and whole human body models of children.

In addition, the project analysed the reasons behind and consequences of the misuse of these systems. It conducted an in-depth study of travelling conditions involving children and lack of protection in accidents.

Among its most important achievements, CASPER produced a report on the conditions of use of CRS and consequences in accidents. It also conducted information campaigns to improve children's safety during traffic accidents with the support of better dummies and sensors to upgrade test procedures.

The project's results will help transfer knowledge on designing and building safer protection devices for children, in addition to communicating information on using the technology in a more efficient way. This is expected to significantly reduce injuries and fatalities for children involved in road transport accidents, encouraging better certification methods for child protection and supporting CRS suppliers in unprecedented ways.

More details can be found at the following link: http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=OFFR_TM_EN&ACTION=D&RCN=11010